Sheet glass rolling machine



Oct. 9, 1934. Q E I 1,975,827

SHEET GLASS ROLLING MACHINE- Filed Sept. 10, 1951 INVENTOR Carroll C one ATTORNEY the forming rolls.

Patented Oct. 9, 1934 stars sneer GLASS ROLLING MACHINE corporation of Ohio Application September 10, 1931, Serial No. 562,119

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus for the production of continuous or substantially continuous sheet glass and more particularly to improvements in rolling machines.

This invention is. primarily designed for use in connection with a sheet glass rolling machine embodying generally a pair of spaced forming rolls positioned above a mass of molten glass contained in a relativ ely shallow working receptacle or pot, said rolls being arranged relatively closely adjacent the surface of the molten glass and being rotatable in a manner to draw a relatively heavy body of glass upwardly from said mass and reduce it to a sheet of substantially predetermined and uniform thickness. The sheet is continued upwardly for a relatively short distance, after which it is deflected over a bending roll into the horizontal plane, the sheet being carried forwardly by means of a plurality of conveying rollswhich deliver it into a flattening chamber and from which it passes into and through an annealing leer. However, the present invention may also be incorporated in other types of rolling machines and is therefore not limited to use in connection with any particular machine.

In such a machine as referred to above, however, the forming rolls are sometimes caused to slowdown and, in fact, completely stopped for one reason or another such as, for example, due

to the passage of foreign matter such as stones and the] like therebetween. These stones becoming wedged in the sheet forming pass between the rolls creates a tendency for the said rolls to either slow down or be completely stopped. This, of course, placesa considerable strain upon the driving means and is very apt to result in the breakage or injury of some portion thereof.

The aim of this invention, therefore, resides in the provision of means which will permit the slowing down or complete stopping of the forming rolls without placing any undue strain upon the driving means or adversely afiecting the same in any manner. This result is herein accomplished by the provision of a safety clutch interposed within the drive for each forming roll.

. These safety clutches are automatic in their operation so that should the forming rolls be slowed down to a speed lessthan the normal driving speed, the clutch members will be moved apart to temporarily disconnect the positive drive from However, after the obstruction has been removed from between the rolls, the

" clutch members will be moved to engage one another to again connect the drive to said rolls.

Other objects and advantages of the invention Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, showing the present invention associated therewith, Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on line 33 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4: is a section taken substantially on line 4-4 of'Fig. 3.

Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the rolling machine here shown includes generally a pair of forming rolls 5 and 6 positioned transversely above the working receptacle or pot 7 and disposed. side by side closely adjacent to the surface of the mass of molten glass 8 contained therein. This mass of molten glass may be supplied to the receptacle in any desirable manner, and the forming .rolls' are preferably located substantially at the surface of the molten mass, being neither above nor beneath the same. The forming rolls 5 and 6 are adapted to be positively driven in the directions indicated by the arrows to draw a relatively heavy body of molten glass 9 upwardly from the receptacle and roll it to a sheet 10 of substantially predetermined and uniform thickness. The rolls 5 and 6 are spaced from one another to create a sheet forming pass, and the width of this pass determines the thick- I ness of sheet produced. The sheet 10, after being formed, is moved vertically from the sheet forming pass for a relatively short distance and'is then deflected over a rotatable bending roll 11 into the horizontal plane wherein it is carried forwardly upon a series of horizontally arranged conveying rolls 12. If desired, the bending roll 11 can be omitted and the sheet deflected first into an inclined plane about roll 5 and thence into the horizontal plane about the first roll 12.

The bending roll 11 is journaled at each end within a bearing housing 13 suspended from the supporting frame 14, andjcarried by these bearing housings and positioned therebeneath are bearinghousings 15 and 16 within which the oppositeends of the forming rolls 5 and 6 respectively are journaled. The conveying rolls 12 are likewise journaled at their opposite ends within bearing frames 17 carried by the depending arms 18 secured to the supporting frame 14. Since the specific construction of the mounting for the forming rolls; bending roll and conveyor rolls is not a part of the present invention, a detailed description thereof is not thought to be necessary.

The means for driving the forming rolls and 6 includes a main power shaft 19 connected with any suitable source of power such as an elbotric motor (not shown), and being adapted to drive through suitable reduction gearing located in the gear case 20 the shafts 21 and 22, these shafts being arranged side by side and carrying worms 23 and 24 which mesh with worm gears 25 and 26 carried by one end of the forming rolls 5 and 6 respectively and located within bearing housings 15 and 16, it being noted that the bearing housing 15 is arranged outwardly of bearing housing 16 so that the shafts 21 and 22 may be disposed side by side.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 3 and 4, the driving means for each forming roll 5 and 6 includes a safety clutch designated in its entirety by the numeral 27 and being interposed between the gear case 20 and the respective bearing housing 15 or 18. The numeral 28 designates a drive shaft connected through the gearing in gear case 20 to shaft 19, While the numeral 29 designates a driven shaft which is connected with the respective shaft '21 or 22. The safety clutch 27 is adapted to connect the adjacent ends of these two shafts 28 and 29 in such a manner that while, under ordinary conditions, the shaft Will be driven from Shaft 28, the said shaft 29 can be permitted to slow down or stop independently of the rotation of shaft 28.

The safety clutch 27 includes a cylindrical casing orhousing divided into the two parts or sections 30 and '31 arranged end to end and connected together by the bolts 32. These bolts also serve to secure to the outer end of the housing section 30 a collar 33 which is mounted upon and keyed to the reduced end portion 34 of shaft 28, being held thereon by a plate 35 and bolts 36. The outer end "of the housing section 31 rotates freely upon a collar 37 keyed as at 38 to a relatively long sleeve 39 fixed to shaft 29.

Arranged within the two housing sections 30 and 31 ar'e the clutch members 40 and 41 respectively, both of which are 'sli'dably keyed upon sleeve 39. These clutch members are in the form of rings encircling the sleeve 39, and the inner adjacent end faces thereof are provided with recesses or depressions 42 and 43 respectively which may be brought into registry with one another. Clamped between the adjacent housing sections 30 and 31 and secured in place by the bolts 32 is a disc 44, said disc encircling sleeve 39 and being interposed between the adjacent ends of the clutch members 40 and 41. The disc 44 is provided with a plurality of openings within which are loosely mounted balls 45, said balls projecting at either side beyond the disc and fitting within the recesses 42 and '43 in the clutch members 40 and 41. Encircling the sleeve 39 and interposed between collar 37 and clutch member 41 is a compression spring '46 which normally tends 'to urge the said clutch member 41 toward member 40 so as to maintain the balls 45 within recesses 42 and 43 as shown in Fig. 3.

During the normal operation of the rolling machine, the compression of spring 46 is adapted to be such that the clutch members 40 and 41 will .be maintainediin engagement with one another to the end that the rotation of shaft 28 will be imparted to shaft 29 through the rotation of the disc 44 and the balls 45 which are at such time as the shaft 29 slows down, the clutch housing which includes the two sectionsio'o and 31, and consequently the disc 44, will continue to rotate with shaft 28, and this rotation will cause the @balls' 45 to move out of the recesses 42 and 43 and be carried along by the disc relative to the clutch members which are carried by sleeve 39.

This operation is permitted upon compression of the spring 46 which allows the clutch members to slightly separate when the shaft 29 rotates slower than shaft 23. During this period'of operation, it might be said that the drive shaft 28 is caused to overrun the driven shaft 29. After the stones or other obstruction have been removed from between the forming rolls, the balls 45 will be caused to snap back into the recesses 42 and 43 and again pick up the driving of the clutch members 40 and 41, and consequently the driving of the respective shaft 29 and forming roll. It will be readily apparent that, due to the provision of the safety clutches27, the slowing down or complete stopping of the forming rolls will have no injurious effect upon the driving means such as might be caused were thes'afety-clutohes not employed. p 7

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as the preferred embodiment of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement 'of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim: p

1. In a sheet glass rolling machine, the combination with a pair of forming rolls a'daptedto draw a relatively heavy body of molten glass upwardly from a 'molten bath and reduce it to a sheet of substantially predetermined and uniw form thickness, of means for driving each of said 3 rolls including a drive shaft, a driven shaft having operative drive connections with the respective forming roll, and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said'safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidab'l'y keyed to the driven shaft, means carried by'the drive shaft and interposed between the clutch members for engaging and rotating the same, and

means for yieldably holding the clutch 'mem--'- bers in operative engagement with said lastmentioned means so that the said clutch members may be moved apart when the driven shaft slows down to a speed less than that of the drive shaft.

2. In a sheet glass rolling machine, the combination with a pai r of forming rolls adapted to draw a relatively heavy body of molten glass upwardly from a molten bath and reduce 'it to a sheet of Substantial-1y predetermined and llniform thickness, of means for driving 'each 'ofjsaid rolls including a drive shaft, a driven shaft having operative drive connections with the re spective forming roll, and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidably keyed to the driven shaft and having recesses in the adjacent end faces thereof, a housing carried by and rotatable with the drive shaft, a disc carried by the housing and being provided with a plurality of openings, balls loosely received within said openings and projecting at opposite sides beyond the disc, with the projecting portions thereof being received within the recesses in the adjacent end faces of the said clutch members, and means for yieldably urging the clutch members toward one another so that the balls engaging the same will effect rotation thereof together with the driven shaft.

3. In a sheet glass rolling machine, the combination with a pair of forming rolls adapted to draw a relatively heavy body of molten glass upwardly from a molten bath and reduce it to a sheet of substantially predetermined and uniform thickness, of means for driving each of said rolls including a drive shaft, a driven shaft having operative drive connections with the respective forming roll, and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidably keyed to the driven shaft, a disc carried by and rotatable with the drive shaft and interposed between the clutch members, means carried by said disc for engaging and rotating the said clutch members, and spring means for yieldably holding the clutch members in operative engagement with said last mentioned means so that the said clutch members may be moved apart when the driven shaft slows down to a speed less than that of the drive shaft.

4. In combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven coaxial shafts and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidably keyed to the driven shaft, means carried by the drive shaft and interposed between the clutch members for engaging and rotating the same, and means for yieldably holding the clutch members in operative engagement with said lastmentioned means so that the said clutch members may be moved apart when the driven shaft slows down to a speed less than that of the drive shaft.

5. In combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven coaxial shafts and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidably keyed to the driven shaft, a disc carried by and rotatable with the drive shaft and interposed between the clutch members, means carried by said disc for engaging and rotating said clutch members, and spring means for yieldably holding the clutch members in operative engagement with said last-mentioned means so that the said clutch members may be moved apart when the driven shaft slows down to a speed less than that of the drive shaft.

6. In combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven coaxial shafts and a safety clutch interposed between and connecting the adjacent ends of said drive and driven shafts, said safety clutch including a pair of clutch members slidably keyed to the driven shaft and having depressions in the adjacent end faces thereof, a

housing carried by and rotatable with the drive shaft, a disc carried by the housing and interposed between the clutch members,said disc being provided with a plurality of openings, balls loosely received within said openings and projecting at opposite sides beyond the disc, with the projecting portions thereof being received within the depressions in the adjacent end faces of the said clutch members, and means for yieldably urging the clutch members toward one another so that the balls engaging the same will effect rotation thereof together with the driven shaft.

CARROLL CONE. 

